(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a crib sheet. More specifically, the invention relates to a sheet that reduces the risk of infant smotherings.
(2) Background
Conventional sheets can be broken out into two broad categories, fitted and unfitted. Unfitted sheets are substantially flat pieces of material with a dimension that permits them to be tucked in to encompass a top surface and sides of a mattress with sufficient material on which the mattress rests to retain the sheet in place. Such sheets are easily dislodged from a mattress, as it is only the weight of the mattress that retains the sheet thereon. Fitted sheets are designed for a particular size of mattress and typically have elastic gathers at the corners. The corners of the mattress can then be seated in these elastic gather formed corners of the fitted sheet. The elastic helps retain the sheet on the mattress. However, it is typically suffciently elastic that pulling on the sheet will cause the elastic to stretch and the sheet is thereby dislodgeable from the mattress without significantly bending or deforming the mattress. Crib sheets fall into the same broad categories but are, of course, smaller in size than conventional sheets. Both kinds of sheets when used in cribs have been found to be subject to accidental dislodgment and have resulted in a number of infant suffocations.